The famous "Pygmalion effect" How do we experience it today?

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The Pygmalion effect is directly related to the expectations that other people have about us.

Have you ever been told a word or phrase that motivated you to achieve something you thought was impossible? This is simply the explanation of the Pygmalion effect, which is when the expectations that others have of us directly influence our performance.

Where does this word Pygmalion come from? This concept comes from Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who created a statue that was too perfect and fell in love with it. His love for this statue was so great that the gods gave life to that statue. This idea is the symbol of the power of believing in something or someone and how these strong beliefs can simply become reality.

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Let's look at an example: Camila is an average student who never excelled at math. One day, her new teacher was totally convinced that she had great potential, so he began to treat her as if she were an excellent math student. The teacher assigned her more complex challenges than the others and time after time celebrated her achievements by saying: "Camila, I know you can do better."

Camila pushed herself harder every day than the day before, not because she was growing in herself as if she were the best, but because there was someone who was doing it. This led to Camila not only improving her grades in a few months but becoming the best in the class. What changed? The teacher's expectations gave her a dose of confidence and motivation, thus achieving what for her perhaps was not contemplated.

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What impact can this have on our daily lives? The Pygmalion effect doesn't only happen with Camila and at school, it also happens in many other areas such as work, interpersonal relationships, many other circumstances, even with ourselves. If we believe that the work team can achieve great things and we move accordingly by having the thought, attitude and action to achieve it, I certainly believe that the team will perform much better.

In the case of our children, if we treat our children as people who are truly capable and worthy of much esteem and value, they will believe it, live and act with that self-confidence from their parents. If we see ourselves as someone capable of achieving the goals we set for ourselves, that self-confidence can radically transform our reality.

It would be interesting to ask ourselves the following questions: What expectations am I projecting onto other people? What beliefs do we have about ourselves? Are those beliefs limiting our potential? Always remember that the expectations we have about other people are about ourselves. They have nothing to do with magic. They are something that ignites motivation and confidence. This is necessary for us to achieve what only seems like a dream. So today I urge you to choose to believe in others, but above all, choose to believe in yourself, because in this way you can transform something simple and ordinary into something extraordinary.